Taking lower salary?

[cj25]

How bad will taking a lower wage contract job affect your future earning ability?  i.e. you've been laid off for several months and a contract job comes up but paying over $10k less than your previous job (and no bonus).  You are going to continue looking but will you now be forced to take a much lower salary when companies ask how much your current pay is (we've found no way around this question)?

[Dave1442397]

The simple way around this is to never tell them what your current pay is. Some states (such as PA) have recently made it illegal for employers to ask that question at all.

Here's a decent article on the subject - http://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-manager-asks-how-much-money-you-make-2015-11/#1-be-informed-1

I had that happen to me when I got laid off in 2001 and took a $30k pay cut just to get back into the job market. When I applied for my next job, they had a space on the application form for current salary, and I just left it blank, which I always do. It has never come up in an interview. I've always waited for them to offer me the position, and then negotiated the salary and/or vacation time.

[brian313313]

I had a job offer from a company one time that wanted me to provide last year's tax returns. They said it was to make sure I wasn't "lying" about my previous salary. I had refused to answer the question so I couldn't have "lied". I did not take the position because a better one opened up but I noticed that they had the position open for quite a few months. I was glad because it made me mad they even asked it.

Most companies will ask, but it's not usually an issue if you don't answer. Or just lie. To me, when someone asks a question that's none of their business it's ok to either not answer or lie about it. You could ask them what they're paying people in similar positions. That's an equivalent question but I don't suggest that. They probably wouldn't like it too well :). Earlier in my career I answered with what I should be making rather than what I was. My entry level job significantly underpaid me and there was no reason to hop jobs 2-3 times to get to what I should have been making.

[lthenderson]

If a company asks what my current salary is during an interview, I tell them that I'm looking for $X as a salary to consider them. I have found that method to work quite well over the years.